Mr. Scot

Related: from John Ellis... Moving Ekwonu to guard accomplishes this...

That'd be insane given what his strengths are

John Fox stubbornly sticking with the "left-right corner" scheme when Larry Fitzgerald was lining up all over the place and killing us...

Said elsewhere, that's what I really don't get. Campen would obviously know, but I find it hard to believe he's the only one. Hell, it's been called out by analysts, reporters and fans alike. Is anybody talking about it internally?

I'll take someone who understands that they don't know over someone who thinks they do every time.

Decided to do a little research related to the blocking issues. Specifically, the unfortunate fact that we use a zone blocking scheme which appears to be a mismatch for our OL personnel. Because of this, I wanted to check out the histories and profiles of the square pegs we've been trying so hard to shove through round holes. Here's what I found... Line guru James Campen has coached zone blocking plenty before (in Green Bay mostly) so he knows what it's about. He's familiar with the schemes and the fits. In fact, when he went to San Diego the team reportedly let him decide what kind of blocking the offense (coordinated by Shane Steichen, FYI) was going to use. Draft profiling of Brad Bozeman critiqued him as a poor fit for a zone blocking scheme and much better suited for man / power running. He's a smart player and good center though, and was part of a zone scheme with the Ravens. Of course, Ravens brass also let him go. Free agent evaluations of Austin Corbett had him pegged as solid in a zone scheme. That of course makes perfect sense given that he did well in Los Angeles as part of Sean McVay's attack. His return has brought at least a little improvement to a Panthers line that is still overall bad. A film analysis of Taylor Moton done a few years ago for the Roaring Riot touted his athleticism and quick footwork being good for zone blocking, and watching him this year bears that out. Thanks to Moton and Corbett, the right side of the line hasn't been where the majority of the problems are happening. Prior to the draft, people debated whether Ikem Ekwonu should be a guard or a tackle. The answer to that seems pretty clearly scheme related, and in a zone scheme he should be a guard. Speed rushers are known to give him problems anyway, so here's hoping this is considered. Couldn't find much in the way of scheme specific scouting of Chandler Zavala, but what i did find had him as a better run blocker than pass blocker. It did also mention his footwork being superior to his power. Having watched him get pushed around a lot, that doesn't come as a surprise. Looked a little at some of the backups as well. Saw speculation that the switch to zone wouldn't be good for Cade Mays, and Nash Jensen was seen by one draft analyst as a "small area power guy" whose limited movement and agility make him a poor blocker"on the move". Finally, what about our big missing piece, i.e. Brady Christensen? Worth remembering he was a left tackle in college. BYU's wide field scheme required agility on his part but he wasn't weak as a power blocker either. He'd be pretty well suited to the scheme. Mind you, i's also worth taking a brief look at the runningbacks on roster right now. Zone blocking schemes tend to work best with cutback runners who can change direction quickly when a hole opens up. We do have at least one of those on roster in Raheem Blackshear, but his playing time has been pretty limited. So, bottom line... Granted we could conceivably switch to man blocking next season, but if we do stick with this scheme next season, the return of Brady Christensen should help. But it'd probably help even more if he goes to left tackle and Ickey goes to guard. That's not a new thought as it's been discussed here before. It's most likely also wishful thinking. But hey, what else have we got right now?

Here's what bugs the hell out of me regarding the line scheme mismatch. Analysts see it. Some reporters see it. Hell, even fans see it. There's no way somebody on the coaching staff has not seen this. James Campen is certainly someone I'd expect to know the difference between a zone and a man/power scheme. And I find it hard to believe he's the only one on a staff full of experienced coaches. If anybody's talking about it internally, we likely wouldn't know, but we can sure as hell see nothing's been done about it...at least not so far.

That criticism has been .ade in a couple of places.

Sherman Lewis used that approach against us in the 96 championship game. He figured the best way to neutralize our defense was to run straight at Kevin Greene, and that's exactly what they did (mostly with Dorsey Levens). Yep. She's gonna be decked out in Cowboys gear. And I know her well enough to know she's not gonna be quiet

They weren't desperate. They were impatient.

Don't remember if it was the Cardinals or somebody else but I know one team neutralized the Cowboys defense by running right at them. Don't know if that's something we'll try, but it might not be a bad idea.

Front office people don't determine systems. That's solely coaching. More to the point though, Reich came in talking about tailoring the scheme to the personnel rather than the other way around. That should have happened from the beginning. It could have been done at the bye. Hell, it could be done inbetween last Thursday's game and the next one. But at least based on press conference answers, I don't know that it will be.

Not exactly looking good in New York (where they did it first) either.

Belichick isn't a great drafter either (as was mentioned elsewhere by someone else). He lived for years off of Dante Scarnecchia being one of the best OL coaches in football, but since Scarnecchia retired yhe Patriot lines have been nowhere near as good.

Nope. McDaniels, and only as OC, not head coach. And therein lies the problem. Offensive genius, but like a typical mad scientist you can't separate the genius from the insanity.

How do you feel about him coaching Howell?

Here's the part of the article I find most concerning... "We had a trade to go up to No. 2," Tepper said. "It was a three-way trade with Chicago. And we were gonna go up to No. 2. And the Texans were gonna trade up to No. 1, Chicago was gonna go to No. 2, and we were gonna trade with Chicago (for No. 9 pick). "And we're waiting. I think we had that trade kinda arranged on Wednesday. I come from a world where you do trades, and I don't love when trades don't happen right away. So I'm driving Scott [Fitterer] crazy. I have to apologize to Scott for this, by the way. "I said 'What's going on with these guys? This doesn't feel right. What's going on?' So Wednesday goes. Thursday goes. We get to Friday and the Texans changed their mind about doing the three-way trade. It's Friday afternoon and Scott talked to [Ryan] Poles. And basically, he got a value that he would accept for us to move up to No. 1."

One of the reporters (Mike Kaye, I think) clarified that Tepper actually said this shortly after the draft. It's being brought back up now because of how things have played out since

What would McDaniels have to do with the draft?

I wouldn't want him, but someone will.

He's a Cardinal...

Kinda shocked me too...

When was that? I remember David being in on draft stuff but not her